Ethiopia is a member of the World Customs Organization and has acceded
to the International Convention on Harmonized Description and Coding System.
According to the Harmonized System(HS) tariff structure, most of the goods
imported previously duty free and those with specific duty rates were
replaced by ad valorem rate. In the tariff structure, whether durable
or not, goods are given a tariff code & classified on the basis of
their type & characteristics in to 21 sections & 99 chapters.

Customs Duty

The Government of Ethiopia, since 1992, has taken successive measures
to drastically & progressively reduce rates of customs duty to open
the local market to foreign competition. This measure has the following
features:
- maximum import tariff has been reduced from 230% to 50 %,
- weighted average rate has been reduced from 41.6% to 21.5%,
- 65% of importable items are within the range of 5% to 20% duty,
- tariff bands have been reduced to seven (excluding zero-duty rate),
- there are no discriminatory duty exemptions,
- all export taxes have been abolished.

A further reduction in the maximum tariff rate to 40% and the weighted
rate to 19.5% is also being considered.

There are also no restrictions in the import of any goods except for those
items which are socially and morally harmful (eg. drugs, armaments, indecent
prints, counterfeit money etc.). There is neither import ban nor quantitative
import restriction.

Import Payment

Commercial banks which are licensed in Ethiopia are authorized to facilitate
imports and provide associated services against submission of the required
documents by the importer. The payment methods can be one of the following:
Letter of Credit(L/C), Cash Against Document(CAD), Advance Payment, Suppliers
Credit, External Loans, and/or Franco Valuta.